


Love Potion #9

by agreytracksuit



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Canon Universe, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Love Potion/Spell
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-12
Updated: 2018-05-12
Packaged: 2019-05-05 16:33:12
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,238
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14622681
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/agreytracksuit/pseuds/agreytracksuit
Summary: When Betty comes into possession of a love potion, she decides to use it on Archie. However when things backfire she ends up with a much bigger problem than being in love with her best friend.





	Love Potion #9

Betty has been looking forward to this fair since Mayor Andrews announced it last month. She’s never been to a fair before, but she’s been watching them set up all of the rides and stalls over the last couple of days and it’s only made her excitement stronger.

                “Come on, Arch, it’ll be fun!” Betty insists, tugging playfully on his arm like a persistent child.

                Archie sits on his bed, trying not to budge as Betty attempts to pull him up. He rolls his eyes but she can tell he’s trying not to smile.

                “I don’t know, Betty,” he groans. “I just don’t think I’m into all of that kind of stuff.”

                Betty drops his hand and folds her arms, looking at him dubiously. “What, you’re all grown up and don’t want to hang out with your best friend anymore?” she asks playfully. She sighs and sits down next to him, putting on her serious face. “This is just what we both need. It’s been _months_ since you broke up with Veronica, and me with Jughead. And for some reason, we’ve _barely_ hung out since. We need this.”

                “Fine,” Archie agrees, finally admitting defeat. Betty squeals in delight and hurries out of his room, not bothering to see if he’s following behind. He does though, very reluctantly.

                When they arrive at the fair, Betty is overwhelmed by all of the sights and smells, being drawn from one stall to another but not really sure where to start.

                “What should we do first? Get a snack? Ooh, have our fortunes told?” Betty asks, giddy with excitement. Archie grabs both of her shoulders to stop her from moving so much.

                “Hey, settle down, would you?” he requests, smiling in endearment. “We’ve got all day to get through everything. Why don’t we start with something simple, like the Ferris Wheel?”

                Betty nods in agreement and they head off to buy their tickets.

                The ride attendant straps them into their carriage and they start going up. Betty really takes in the view as they go around. It’s really incredible to see the town transformed like this.

                “It’s almost romantic, isn’t it?” Betty wonders aloud. Archie nods with a disappointed sigh and Betty’s heart sinks. She can tell he’d rather be here with someone else, and yet she’s not sure why that bothers her so much. Of course he’s still thinking about Veronica, how could he not be? There were times that she herself still missed Jughead. It was less and less every day, but she could understand how Archie felt.

                Betty’s relieved when the ride is over, though she tries not to show it. She dragged Archie here and she doesn’t want to be the reason he’s not having a good time.

                “Okay, now it’s my turn to pick,” she tells him, with a smile she’s no longer feeling. “I think we should go and grab some corn dogs. And some popcorn. And maybe for dessert, a little cotton candy.”

                Archie laughs. “Sounds good, I’m starved,” he agrees. They fall into step beside each other, their shoulders occasionally brushing as they walk. Betty’s heart flutters every time they do.

                Betty orders one of everything off the menu of the food stand, and she and Archie find a place to sit with it all spread out in front of them.

                “You know,” Archie says as he rips off a piece of cotton candy. “This reminds me of when we used to go to the movies together as kids. When our parents wanted to get rid of us for a couple of hours so they’d give us some money and drop us off at the theatre.”

                “Yes! And instead of buying tickets we’d pool our money and spend it all at the concession stand,” Betty remembers, laughing with him.

                “Polly was so disapproving. But she never told on us, not even once,” Archie continues.

                “God, I can’t believe I forgot we used to do that!” Betty says, her smile returning for real this time. She’d forgotten how much she enjoyed hanging out with Archie, without all of the drama. They really are best friends, and in that moment, she realises she wants to be more than that. Perhaps she never really stopped wanting more than that.

                She can feel her heart speeding up but she urges it to slow down. She knows Archie doesn’t feel the same way. He’s still hung up on Veronica.

                “So, it must be my turn to decide where we go next,” Archie announces, dabbing his mouth with a napkin, clearly satisfied. “I think I saw a guy with lizards around here somewhere.”

                “Lizards?” Betty asks, stifling a laugh. Just as she’s about to reply, a stall catches her eye. _Spellman’s Secrets._ “Um, you know what Arch? You go ahead with your lizards. There’s something else I want to do. You probably won’t be interested.”

                “Uh… Okay,” Archie agrees in confusion. “I’ll meet up with you later then?” Betty nods and Archie heads off as she makes her way to the stall.

                “Hello dear,” a middle-aged woman with a nametag that reads ‘Hilda’ greets her. “What are you in need of today?”

                The table at the front has black velvet cloth draped over it and small vials with hand written labels are neatly lined along it. To the left of the stall are a variety of what appear to be herbs, but none that Betty recognises. The right of the stall has all different kinds of jewellery draped over boxes and mirrors in a sort of organised clutter.

                “Hi, I’m not really in need of anything,” Betty tells her. “You just… Caught my eye.”

                Hilda smiles knowingly. “Well I don’t catch the eye of just anyone. There must be something special about you,” she says in a way that’s almost cryptic. “Does this have anything to do with that boy I saw you with? I don’t presume to know your situation but something about him has you troubled.”

                “You presume correctly,” Betty admits. “It’s kind of hard for me to say.”

                “You’re in love with him,” Hilda states. “It’s okay, I say it so you don’t have to. Not to worry, I have just what you need.” Betty eyes her curiously as she fiddles around with the vials on her front table. “Aha!” she cries, seeming to find what she’s after. She holds the vial between her thumb and index finger so that Betty can read the label.

                “Love potion?” Betty asks, a little startled. “Doesn’t that seem kind of unethical?”

                “Oh sweetie, no!” Hilda assures her. “As long as you use it correctly, all it does is put them in a happy state whenever you’re around, and with time it’ll have kind of a… uh, what’s the name of the scientist with the dog?”

                “Pavlov?” Betty prompts.

                “Right! It’s sort of like a Pavlov’s dog effect. Just one drop in their water and they’ll be crushing on you before you know it!” Hilda says with a happy nod. Betty stares at the vial warily, still unsure. For all she knows this woman is just crazy and it’s just a vial of coloured water.

                “I suppose it can’t hurt,” Betty finally says.

                “Excellent!” Hilda beams. She wraps the vial in a brown paper bag and drops a business card in there with it. “Just in case anything goes wrong and you need it reversed, all my details are on the card.”

                “Thank you so much. How much do I owe you?” Betty asks, reaching for her purse.

                “Oh honey, I wouldn’t dream of it! Just let me know how it all works out, okay?” Hilda requests. At that moment, Archie seems to appear out of nowhere.

                “Hey, what are you doing?” he asks. Betty quickly shoves the brown paper bag into her purse.

                “Oh, I was just grabbing some cough syrup. I think I’m coming down with something,” she lies, faking a cough. “How were the lizards?”

                “Kind of disappointing,” Archie tells her with a shrug. “They don’t really do much.”

                “Well what were you expecting?” Betty asks with a smile. “Hey, would you want to come around for dinner tonight?”

                “Yeah sounds good,” Archie replies. Betty feels guilty that he agrees so quickly, not knowing that she has ulterior motives. Then again, she’s almost certain the potion won’t work. She just needs to try. “Hey, do you want to check out the hall of mirrors?”

* * *

 

                Betty is able to inconspicuously slip a single drop of the love potion into Archie’s drink at dinner that night, and afterwards she’s unable to sleep. Riddled with guilt, she keeps thinking about how wrong it is. Even if it doesn’t work, the fact that she put it in with the intention of making him fall in love with her makes her feel awful.

                The next morning she’s anxious to see if it worked, so as soon as she’s ready for school she hurries to Archie’s house and waits for him on his doorstep. He opens the door and seems surprised to see her.

                “Oh, hey,” he says, his brow furrowing in confusion. “Did we organise to walk to school together today?”

                Betty shakes her head. “No, I just thought I’d surprise you,” she responds.

                “Well, consider me surprised,” he tells her. She studies him for a moment and he gestures for her to start walking. She does, and he falls into step beside her. He doesn’t seem to be infatuated with her or anything, which is a good sign, but Betty does think he seems a bit off.

                She tries to start a conversation several times but he always cuts it short by responding with grunts or one-word answers. She doesn’t remember doing anything to upset him yesterday, but maybe she had and he was just trying to be polite by not bringing it up. When they arrive at school she decides to confront him.

                “Hey, have I don’t something to offend you?” she asks seriously. “If I’ve said something that upset you I want to know.”

                “No, you didn’t do anything,” Archie tells her, though he refuses to make eye contact.

                “Are you sure?” Betty presses. “Please just tell me, I can handle it.” It’s at that moment that the bell rings.

                “I’m sure. I’ve got to go,” he says quickly, before pushing past her and hurrying off. Betty stands there for a moment, completely in shock.

                “All right then,” she mutters to herself, heading towards her own class.

                Betty and Archie don’t have their first class together, so she’s unable to push him for answers all period, much to her dismay. She has mixed feelings about the potion not working; relief that she has nothing to feel guilty about, and disappointment that he still doesn’t feel the same way. Unfortunately, now she has a different problem, and that is Archie’s stand-offish behaviour.

                She finds him at recess sitting on the bleachers and sneaks up behind him to take a seat.

                “Hey you,” she greets him. He jumps at the sound of her voice.

                “You can’t sit there,” is his lame response. Betty’s taken aback at this reaction.

                “Excuse me?” she demands. It’s one thing that he won’t tell her what’s wrong, but now he won’t even let her sit with him?

                “I’m eating with Jughead today,” he elaborates. Betty expects him to continue but that’s all he says. “Bye,” he says, waving her away. Shocked at his rudeness, she stands up and leaves without a word.

                At lunch she doesn’t bother trying to talk to him. Whatever’s going on, he clearly needs some space. She just hopes he’ll apologise when he’s finished going through… whatever he’s going through.

                They do have final period together, and when Archie walks into the classroom and sees Betty, he rolls his eyes and sits as far away from her as possible. She can’t help but feel stung by the way he’s treating her.

                “I really have no idea what’s gotten into him,” Betty complains to Veronica that afternoon. “Yesterday we were having an absolute blast. He came over for dinner and everything, but now he’s just being a total jerk to me.” They’re sitting in her bedroom, Veronica at the vanity rummaging through all of Betty’s make up and knick-knacks while Betty sits at the edge of her bed.

                “You can’t think of anything that might have set him off?” Veronica queries. “You didn’t bump into an old enemy at the fair or something?”

                “No!” Betty cries helplessly. “I’ve racked my brain, gone over everything we did and everything we said and nothing is coming to mind.”

                That’s when Veronica finds the love potion in Betty’s vanity draw.

                “Ooh, what’s this?” she asks excitedly, unscrewing the lid and giving it a whiff. “Some kind of perfume?”

                “Just some junk I bought off some woman at the fair,” Betty replies. With a shrug, Veronica pours some onto her finger and starts dabbing it on her neck.

                “Mmm it smells like rose petals,” she hums delightedly.

                “Can you please focus?” Betty snaps. “I’m having a bit of a crisis here.”

                “Sorry Betty, I don’t know what else you want me to say,” Veronica tells her. “I know it hurts that Archie’s treating you this way but it seems like he just needs some space. But hey,” she says with a playful nudge. “It just means spending more time with me.”

* * *

 

                The next day is even worse. Archie seems to be completely avoiding her, and when Betty does see him briefly in class or in hallways, he gets more and more hostile each time, to the point where he’s literally scowling at the presence of her.

                To make matters worse, Veronica has become significantly harder to be around. She’s become completely self-absorbed, as if overnight, and yet she’s the only person who will sit with Betty at lunch.

                As the week goes on, Archie only gets more bitter, and Veronica only becomes more conceited.

                “You know you don’t have to look in the mirror every twenty seconds,” Betty reminds her, as Veronica pouts into a compact mirror.

                “I know,” she sighs. “I just can’t help myself! Since the start of the week I’ve realised just how important I am to myself. And is it just me or did I get prettier over night?”

                “What happened at the start of the week?” Betty asks, disgusted by the amount of affection Veronica is showing for herself. Veronica briefly looks up from her compact.

                “You know? I have no idea,” she replies vaguely. “All I know is that whenever I look at myself it puts me in a kind of happy state. Anyway, there’s nothing wrong with having a bit of self-confidence.”

                “Wait, what did you say?” Betty demands, recognising Veronica’s words.

                “Just that there’s nothing wrong with having some self-confidence,” Veronica repeats. “You could use with some more really…”

                “No, the part before that,” Betty cuts her off. “Did you say it puts you in a ‘happy state’?”

                “Well, yeah,” Veronica says. “What did you think I said?”  
                “Veronica, you’re incredible. I’ll talk to you later,” Betty tells her, hurrying off without bothering to finish her lunch. Veronica’s a bit surprised at this abrupt end to conversation, but with another glance in the mirror she’s forgotten all about it.

* * *

 

                Betty doesn’t care that she’s missing last period to rush home. If she doesn’t fix this soon, Archie might hate her forever. Or not, she’s not really sure how the magic of it works. All she knows is that she can’t take another day of the dirty looks Archie keeps giving her.

                She runs to her room and empties her waste basket, quickly rummaging through the rubbish to find what she’s looking for.

                She finally finds the paper bag and turns it upside down. The business card falls out and Betty snatches it up, turning it over in her hands, desperate to find Hilda’s contact details. There’s no phone number or email, just an address printed on a background of stars.

                With no time to lose, Betty borrows Alice’s car and drives straight to the address, making sure to take the faulty love potion with her as evidence.

                When she arrives at the address, all she can see is an empty shop with newspapers all over the windows. Betty can’t believe how dodgy this woman’s business practices are. Then again, perhaps she should have seen this coming. She did accept a free love potion from a stranger at a fair, after all.

                “Hello?” Betty calls, tapping on the windows while trying to see through them.

                “Hello!” Hilda greets her. She seems to have appeared out of thin air.

                “Is this where you keep your business?” Betty asks curiously. Hilda laughs.

                “Oh goodness me, no!” she replies. “It isn’t really a business, more of a hobby. This is just where I have people come for complaints so they don’t know where I live. Shall we go inside?”

                Betty has about a thousand questions, but she realises now is not the time. Her friendship with Archie is in trouble and that’s all she can think about right now. She follows Hilda into the abandoned shop. All that’s inside are a few assorted bits and pieces from the previous owner, and in the centre of the room sits a desk with a chair on either side. Hilda takes the seat behind the desk and Betty sits across from her.

                “Now what seems to be the problem?” Hilda asks politely. “Did you use too much and now he’s totally infatuated with you, to the point that he’s bordering on stalkerish? It happens a lot.”

                “No, actually, it’s the total opposite,” Betty tells her with a frustrated sigh. She takes the potion out of her bag and sits it on the desk. “I think your product is faulty.”

                “That’s impossible,” Hilda laughs. “I only use the freshest ingredients and I follow the instructions exactly.”

                “Yeah, well, maybe not this time,” Betty accuses. “I put one drop in his water like you said, and instead of liking me more he seems to completely hate me.”

                Hilda seems to think this is hilarious, letting out a high-pitched, hyena-like laugh. “Oh, honey! You know what that means? He was in love with you in the first place!” she says, hardly able to contain her laughter. Betty’s heart leaps in excitement, but then her stomach sinks as she realises the gravity of what she’s done.

                Betty folds her arms, unimpressed with Hilda’s reaction. “So what the hell am I supposed to do about it now?” she demands. Hilda clears her throat and tries to compose herself.

                “That part’s simple. Just put another drop into his water and everything will be back to normal,” she informs Betty, standing up. “Now is that all?” Betty stands as well.

                “But he won’t even look at me! How am I supposed to get access to anything he’s going to drink?” Betty wonders. But Hilda doesn’t respond, she just pushes her out the door, and with one last smile, locks herself in the building.

                Betty tries banging on the door to get Hilda’s attention, but to no avail. She’ll have to figure this one out herself.

* * *

 

                It’s Saturday night, and Betty’s laying on her bed, love potion in hand as she racks her brain to think of how to pour a drop into Archie’s drink. She isn’t about to follow him around in the hopes that an opportunity might arise, so she has to come up with some way to see him.

                That’s when Alice knocks on her door. Betty quickly shoves the potion into her pocket and sits up as her mother enters.

                “Hey sweetie,” she says gently. “Is everything okay? I thought you might have gone to see Archie’s football match tonight. You are still friends, right?”

                “I hope so,” Betty sighs. She'd actually completely forgotten there was a football game tonight. “We’re going through a bit of a rough patch at the moment.”

                That’s when and idea occurs to her. If she can sneak onto the field to where the players leave their water bottles, she can find Archie’s and her problem will be solved.

                “Actually mom, do you think you can give me a lift there?” Betty asks. “I think I do want to go, after all.”

                They arrive at the school just before half time, and Betty rushes off before Alice gets a chance to even stop the car.

“Okay, I’ll meet you there!” Alice calls to her, but Betty doesn’t pay her any mind. She runs through the school to the boy’s locker rooms, the quickest way she knows to get to the field.

There’s one minute left on the clock, and she’s lucky that the game seems to be so intense no one even notices her. She’s on the sidelines now, searching through the player’s things to try and find Archie’s drink bottle. She spots Reggie sitting on the bench, clearly injured.

“Psst, Reggie!” she hisses, he turns around and furrows his brow at the sight of her. “Where is Archie’s drink bottle?”

He points over to where the coach is sitting before turning back to the game. Betty looks over to where Reggie pointed and sees the drink bottle right next to the coach’s bench. Crouching down, she stealthily moves over there, unscrews the lid and pours in one drop of potion inside just as the siren goes off to signal half time.

“Betty Cooper? What the heck are you doing here?” the coach asks. Betty stands up, embarrassed and not really sure how to respond.

“Uh… I um…” she stutters. “I just wanted to apologise for quitting the River Vixens. I know it wasn’t fair to leave them in the lurch like that. But here I am, showing my support anyway!”

The coach narrows his eyes. “Why would I care about the River Vixens?” he asks.

“You’re right!” Betty agrees. “Now I’m going to go apologise to Cheryl! Bye!” With that she hurries off back through the locker rooms, her heart beating out of her chest. Now she just has to make sure Archie actually drinks from his drink bottle, so she heads to the bleachers to find a place next to her mother.

She looks down at the players on the sidelines, huddled around and talking about their plan for the next half. She scans the team and finally sees Archie’s flaming red hair amongst them. He takes a swig of his water and she breathes a sigh of relief. Hopefully now this nightmare will be over.

-

Betty doesn’t hear anything from Archie at all on Sunday, and she starts wondering if maybe Hilda had been lying and there isn’t a way to reverse the potion. She wouldn’t be surprised if this was the case.

However, just as she’s leaving the house for school on Monday morning she’s greeted by Archie standing on her doorstep.

“Can I walk you to school?” he asks, looking a little sheepish, though Betty knows she’s the one who should be sheepish. Unable to control herself, she throws her arms around him in a tight hug. He hugs her back just as much.

“I’m so glad you’re here. I was so worried,” she tells him. Archie sighs as they let each other go.

“I’m so sorry for the way I was acting last week,” he apologises. “I have no idea what got into me, but I feel really guilty about the whole thing.”

“Arch, you have nothing to be guilty about,” Betty assures him. “And actually, I have a confession to make.”

She launches into the story, telling him absolutely everything. About her feelings for him, about Hilda, about how Veronica used the potion and that’s how she figured out that it was all real.

“I am so, so sorry Arch. It was stupid and reckless and I feel so incredibly guilty about the whole thing,” she admits. She bites her lip in anticipation as she watches Archie process everything.

“It’s okay,” he says finally, and Betty feels a weight lift off her shoulders. “The only question I have is how you could possibly think I wouldn’t love you back?”

Betty goes red and ducks her head in embarrassment. “Can you blame me?” she asks, thinking back to that night he rejected her. It seems so long ago.

“No, I guess not,” he says with a small smile. “But I do, Betty. I love you so much.”

Betty’s breath catches in her throat. She never expected him to admit it so openly, especially not after what she’d done. Yet here he was, saying the words she’d always wanted to hear.

“I love you too,” she whispers, taking a small step towards him. Archie gently places a hand on her face and leans down to kiss her. Betty leans into him and their lips meet, kissing each other so gently at first, and then with more passion as if they’d never been kissed before.

“Wait,” Betty says, pulling away reluctantly. “Do you think I should fix Veronica now?”

Archie thinks about it for a moment before shaking his head. “I think she can survive one more day being obsessed with herself,” he laughs. He pulls Betty back in and she kisses him back happily, not willing to break away from him again. They were going to be late for school, but that was the last thing on either of their minds.


End file.
